AVATAR:the Hunt for the Courier SpinOff:Avatar Day
by Sokka's Fan-Lawyer
Summary: Based off Dearing's scifi WWII Avatar:Black Core fanfic.When Alistair&Co go to visit Boston in the USAC,they find an AVATAR parade and try to help.But with Alistair arrested for murder and an army of German mechs on the loose,can the others save the day?


**Hey, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here! This was a story that I wrote years ago for an incredibly awesome fanfiction by Dearing called AVATAR: Hunt for the Courier. What he was doing was adapting the Avatar story into a science fiction, mech, alternate history where WWII is still going on in modern day, much like the 100 year war from the show; it may sound confusing, but it's awesome, trust me! Anyway, as he was adapting the key episodes from the show, that left the filler up for grabs; so I offered to try and adapt the episode Avatar Day within his story and he, being the cool guy he is, let me. **

**Why then, am I uploading it on my own? Because that was three years ago, but he hasn't updated Courier yet nor included my story and I have to say that I'm a rather proud of it. So I figured what better way to advertise his fic and get my chapter read than uploading it myself? When he gets around to uploading the rest of Courier, then I'll probably take this down. But until then, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing; this is merely a fanfiction…within a fanfiction, so this is probably as close to Inception as Avatar is going to get.**

…

Greg looked out upon the rest of the patrons of the bar. To be honest, they weren't a classy bunch, ranging from thieves to pirates, raiding the ships of both U.S.A.C and G.U.N alike. All in all, Greg doubted that there wasn't a more scum-filled bar in the whole city. "Just how far have I fallen…?" The aging Greg asked himself while sipping on his beer. It seemed like only yesterday that he had been the top of the heap; he had been a very successful military man, crawling up the ranks almost remarkably fast. However, after he had been suspected of making under the table deals with G.U.N, the medals, the money, they were all gone in a blink of an eye.

He scowled at his reflection on his glass. Admitting, the report hadn't been _entirely _false…. He _may _have sold a little secret or two to the good natured G.U.N official who would occasionally approach him…but for God's sake, he had a family! Plus, the money he was offered…how could anyone expect a young man to act otherwise? Greg's shoulders merely slumped. _He _shouldn't have done it….because of him, a President had been assassinated.

Greg's moping was interrupted by his own hiccup. Maybe he had overdone it tonight…he glanced at the green bottle, sighed, and refilled his glass. Maybe not. With the memories he had been having lately, it was hardly surprising that he wanted to get drunk. Admitting, with the low income of a furniture salesman, he couldn't do so often. Slowly, all around him, the lights began to dim, and a spotlight beamed down onto the stage that was position on the other side of the large room. Crossing over the heads of customers sitting at round tables and over the wooden floors, it finally landed upon a beautiful woman, wearing a rather revealing gown. Greg merely rolled his eyes and went back to his beer; at his age and steeped in depression, he felt that he was beyond such petty remedies.

As she began to sing, Greg glanced over his shoulder and observed the rest of the bar's patrons; sure enough, most of them were making cat calls and staring lustfully at a woman (Greg was certain) didn't even want to be there. He scowled. Forget how far he had fallen, just how far has _society _fallen? Back in his day, men were a little more restrained…dignified, even. Now, with the coming of refugees from Europe, it seemed that wonderful nation of U.S.A.C was slowly becoming more corrupt.

"Damn foreigners." Greg muttered. "What a mess this country has become…."

"I couldn't agree more, my good sir." A chirper voice said from beside him. Had Greg not been drunk, he may have whipped out of his chair and glared down the suspicious character that had approached him. Instead, Greg merely glanced up at the man. He was wearing tiny glasses that appeared to be more for decoration than anything, with short blond hair. The cloak he wore covered most of his clothing, but Greg noticed the man's black dress pants. However, his most startling feature was by far his sharp black eyes. "May I buy you a drink?" he kindly offered.

"What'd you want?"

"To help an unfortunate soul is all."

Greg scowled; despite how far he had fallen, he still refused to take that kind of pity.

"Do I really look that pathetic? Well, 'good sir', you can take your 'help' and shove it!" Greg snapped. To his surprise, these words seemed to have no affect on the man; instead, he merely smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry if I offended you; I didn't mean any offense, I assure you!" He waved the bartender over. The bartender reluctantly took his eyes off the dancing woman and lumbered over. "A bottle of your finest gin for my friend here, please." He slid a twenty dollar bill over to the bartender, who merely placed it in his pocket. Greg and the man didn't speak to each other until the bartender returned with the gin.

"What are you playing at, young man?" Greg asked, resigned.

"Nothing at all, sir…I'm merely interested in what you were saying is all. I myself have been questioning the integrity of this once proud nation, especially compared to that of Germany."

"What?" Despite being drunk, Greg's mind cleared immediately. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? You could be considered a traitor for words like that!"

"Anymore than you selling those secrets to G.U.N was? I'm sorry sir, but I doubt that. Anyway, you cannot be called a traitor for mocking a nation that is not your own, you see?" The man stared at a shocked Greg. It took him a few seconds to wrap his mind around what the man was saying and respond.

"…how…how did you find out about that? Just who the hell are you?"

The man merely smiled, "I am called Glin by my friends, and I do consider you as one of my friends, Mr. Gregory. You see, my father was the one you sold those secrets to, and as a result, he rose quickly through the ranks, eventually paving a way for me. As a result of our new status, I feel that it is only natural that we do something for you…maybe a trip to Germany?"

Greg merely continued to stare at Glin…there was no way that the man could be real; maybe the bartender slipped a little something extra into his glass tonight…. "What are you saying? You want me to defect from the U.S.A.C and simply jump ship to G.U.N.?"

Glin smiled and then nodded in agreement.

"Are you crazy? There's no way I could do something like that! Not only would I be killed for treason, but G.U.N. would probably kill me, thinking I was a spy!"

Glin shrugged, "True enough, I suppose….however, if you did them a great service, I'm certain they will see otherwise."

"…what kind of service?" Greg reluctantly asked.

"We've located the Courier." Was all Glin said and that was all it took to turn Greg's blood to ice.

"The Courier? The pilot of the AVATAR? Are you crazy? What makes you think that I could capture _him_?" Greg demanded. Glin tsked.

"Don't be so hasty. What makes you think we are asking you to do it by yourself? I am merely suggesting a cooperative effort between us; delivering the Courier to the Furor would certainly gain you some credit with G.U.N, which will come in handy…especially for the future."

"But what about D.C? G.U.N has tried and failed to destroy it, but they couldn't even dent the damn shields! What makes you think taking the Courier out of the game will make any difference?"

Glin smirked and gave Greg a knowledgeable look, "Nothing lasts forever, Mr. Gregory. For all we know, Washington D.C. may not always be there." He leaned in close, "I am going to trust you with some important information: G.U.N. is working on something; something that will make the shields useless against us."

Greg's eyes widened and his jaw lay slack. Glin leaned away and took out a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote something down, "I'm leaving an address here with you. If you've decided where your loyalties lie, then please meet me there. As a token of good will, I am also leaving the Courier's current location with you." Glin stood up, gave the distracted bartender a respectful nod, and began to walk off. "I hope that your response will be favorable, Mr. Gregory."

Still numb with shock, Gregory mechanically looked down at the slip of paper and was shocked. "Wait!" He called after Glin. "Are you serious? Why would that guy be…."

"…in Boston?" Sokka demanded. Katara rolled her eyes at her fuming brother.

"Boston is one of the U.S.A.C's most historical places, Sokka! After all the drama lately, I thought it would be nice to rest for a little!"

"Sure, okay, but why do we have to visit all these damn museums?"

"It's this nation's history we're looking at Sokka! Can't you just sit still for a few hours?"

Alistair merely watched the brewing argument with mild interest. Sokka had been acting pretty discontent lately, and spending three hours in a museum wasn't helping matters. Even Al himself was beginning to feel a little bored. He glanced over to Natalya, who was also observing the feuding siblings. "Do they do this often?" she asked, speaking over Sokka's cries of pain.

"Yeah…I guess you could say that." Alistair answered. "Generally they don't really get mad at each other; this is merely low level bickering. I doubt that you would mistake this for when they are truly angry with one another."

"Oh." Silence fell between the two again. "So…what are we supposed to be looking at again?"

It took a few seconds, but Alistair quickly caught on. "Oh, nothing really that special; it's just an exhibit about the Revolutionary War, with a few old guns, some rusty ammo, and a wax figure wearing some weird uniform. All in all, nothing different from the other stuff we have been staring at for the past two hours." Sighing, he got up and walked over to where Sokka lay on the ground, beaten. "Hey Katara? Maybe Sokka has point; we've seen enough museums for now, so how about we break for lunch?" Sokka's one good eye stared up at Al, filled with gratitude.

Katara sighed. "Fine," she said. "I heard that there was a decent bar and grill around the corner from here."

"…Thank…Go…d…." Sokka groaned from the floor. Natalya merely got up and walked over to him.

"You're pretty weak, aren't you?" she remarked as she helped the wounded man up.

"Shut up! I'm not weak!" he growled at her, his pride stinging.

"Really? One would have thought that you were weaker than your _little _sister, especially after that poor performance."

"I wasn't even trying! You'll see!"

"Whatever you say…Snoozles."

"What was that?" The two continued to bicker as the group began to leave the museum.

"I think they are getting along swimmingly." Alistair observed as he followed the other two.

"…I guess so." Katara replied dryly. "I find it odd how he keeps forgetting that she's blind."

Al merely shrugged, "It's not too hard to see why he would forget that detail; I mean, with her personality…."

"I heard that!" Natalya called back. Al merely waved back.

"I mean," he continued, lowering his voice. "I'm surprised…when we met her just a few weeks ago, she seemed a little more withdrawn…but a day or two later, she's a smart aleck and sarcastic... Sokka may have met his match."

"Whatever...that still doesn't give her the right to just brush us off like she has; she never does anything with us, she keeps to herself all the time, and…!" Alistair winced; he had been hearing about Katara's private complaints about Natalya for the past few weeks. Admitting, the Russian had been somewhat of a loner around the Avat, but for now, Alistair felt that Katara was overreacting; it would take time for Natayla to really get used to their odd trio of friends. He remembered meeting Sokka for the first time and how appalled he was about the Australian's habits and paranoia…but he had grown accustomed to it over the months they had been together.

By the time Alistair was finished thinking, he noticed that they had already exited the museum and were walking down the crowded sidewalk. After Katara pulled him out of the way of a sprinting pedestrian, Sokka asked, "So…what's this place called anyway?"

"The Jasmine Dragon…or something like that." Sokka slumped.

"That doesn't sound very…bar-grilly." Disappointment was apparent in his voice.

"…he does have a point." Al admitted to a silent Katara.

"Sure Sokka! Let us go to a place with a more 'bar-grilly name', ignoring the conveniently close restaurant, simply because you don't like the name!" She snapped. Sokka merely rolled his eyes and glared on ahead.

A few minutes later, they came upon a restaurant, after seeing the neon sign reading: The Jade Iguana. "Not quite a dragon, but I'm sure that their food is good…." Katara remarked, trying to keep an upbeat attitude. However, she struggled to keep it as they entered the dimly lit eatery, as she saw a bunch of tired looking people munching on dry looking meat sandwiches. Suddenly, a waitress came out of nowhere, surprising the party.

"Hello! Would you like to sit at the bar or a table?" She greeted while cutting straight to the chase.

"Ba…" Natalya began, but Katara quickly covered the blind girl's mouth.

"A table please." The waitress nodded, and pulled out some menus from under her podium and gestured for the group to follow her.

"So, what brings you lot to town?" She asked as she led them down an aisle.

"Oh…just seeing the sights, is all." Katara replied.

"Oh, tourists eh? Well, if it's sights that you guys want to see, than you should try to get here for next month's parade." This caught everyone's attention.

"What parade?" Sokka asked, confused. "It's nowhere near July 4th!" The waitress glanced back at them, surprised.

"You really don't know? It's a national holiday; every year, on April 30th, we throw a celebration in honor of the people of the British Isles tragedy." That put a damper on her personality and she quickly stopped at a random table. "Here you go; you're server will be with you in a few moments." Thanking her, everyone sat down in some of the chairs, causing some noise to come from the petrified dark blue carpeting.

"Well, that seems oddly coincidental." Sokka stated. Katara tried to stop herself from lecturing her brother, so instead asked.

"How so?"

"It just seems odd that they would be having a parade in honor of the British Isles, when the Courier comes to town, you know?" Sokka remarked…a little too loudly. Costumers throughout the restaurant stared in their direction, catching what she had just said.

"Shut up!" Katara hissed, kicking the boy's shin, only to get a bruised toe in the process. Al glared at her from the other side of the table, while even Natalya looked disapproving. "Don't you know that sound travels?" Slowly, some of the people at the bar got up to leave. Katara cursed under her breath. "See what you did? Now news is going to spread!" she turned to a neutral faced Al. "Help me!"

"Sokka…it wasn't completely your fault…"Al carefully stated. Natalya merely scowled.

"Okay, sorry!" Sokka snapped. Natalya nodded slightly.

"Yeah…he seems sincere." Katara shot him a glare. "What? You can't help being stupid, right?"

"Anyway," Alistair stood up. "We better get out of here before anything decides to attack us or something….again." Seeing the wisdom in this, the others nodded in agreement and began to follow their friend out. Unfortunately, they were too late to slip away. Natalya was the first to notice the police people who were almost casually approaching them.

"Al!" Alistair caught on at once and began to pick up his pace…only to be cut off by a woman dressed in a long, brown coat, with slacks and a dark turtle neck sweater.

"Refrain from fleeing, please." She spoke with authority. "We are not here to arrest you." 

"Really, lady?" Katara remarked, glaring around at the uniformed officers moving into position around them. "You aren't acting like it." Sokka said nothing, but subtly pulled a pistol out of nowhere and clicked the safety off.

However, the officers noticed this and quickly armed themselves and openly surrounded the party. Pedestrians saw this and began to panic; cell phones were whipped out and chatter filled the air. It was about this time that Sokka realized his error. "Aw, cra…" He began, only to be tackled by some charging police officers.

"Sokka!" Natalya shouted and glared at the woman. "Who are you?"

The woman looked surprised for a second, but quickly masked it, "I happen to Mayor Tong's assistant! He wants to meet the Courier and, after the reports of sightings came in, he sent me and some of our fine law enforcement to fetch you!"

Natalya stared, only to have Katara put a supporting hand on her shoulder.

"Shut up, Sokka." The Australian said solemnly to her swearing brother. Al turned toward the assistant.

"Fine," He spoke. "We'll go with you…"

"Excellent!" the woman smiled.

"But," Natalya spoke up, despite Katara's attempts to shush her. "Could you get the henchmen off Sokka? I don't think he's breathing." Quietly, tiny cries of 'help me' could be heard coming from the bottom of the dog pile.

"Consider it done." The assistant assured them. "Okay guys! We're good!" Reluctantly, the police officers got off the now wounded Sokka. Glaring at the fallen boy as they passed, the officers formed a circle around the party, plus the assistant. "Now, if you four could follow me to the limo, we can get this over with, and you'll be on your merry way!" Reluctantly, and with Sokka being dragged by Katara, the four followed the woman.

"So…" Natalya began. "Do you make it a habit of yours; getting your ass kicked, I mean?" 

Sokka merely glared at her with his good eye, then winced as he put pressure upon the ice pack covering the other one. At the present, he and Natalya were seated inside a dully colored waiting room; similar to what you would expect to find in a doctor's office, only…less colorful. There were some policemen who had positioned themselves at both the doors, one on end of the room (marked "EXIT"), while the other was on the other side of the room. In between, opposite Sokka and Natalya, was a secretary's desk, with an elderly, bitter looking woman, hammering away at a computer.

"So…"Natalya began again, breaking the temporary silence. "Do you always have guns on you? Or was today special or something?" Sokka smirked.

"Dude, I have guns in places you wouldn't believe…OUCH!" he yipped as the Russian punched his arm. "What was that for?" 

"For your mind never leaving the gutter."

"What makes you think that?" Sokka demanded.

"You know damn well." Natalya snapped, feigning anger.

"Whatever." Sokka raised up his arm as a peace gesture. "Anyway, where did Al and Katara go?"

"How should I know? I'm blind."

"They better not have gone off alone…" Sokka began.

"Why? For fear of being shot?"

"No," Sokka shook his head. "For fear of 'alone time'. In that case, they should be shot…preferably by me."

"Honey, you're the blind one if you've missed…never mind. What the hell is taking that mayor so long? If he wanted to see us, you'd think he would drop everything immediately or something." Natalya blew at a dangling strand of her hair while pouting. Sokka merely shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe…hey!" As he began, the EXIT door suddenly opened and Al and Katara were led through it by some more guards. "Where were you guys at?"

Al looked somewhat pale and Katara looked angry. "The doctors here decided to take it upon themselves to give Al a physical; it isn't every day that a 120 year old comes into town and all that crap. Anyway, I tagged along to keep an eye on him. Any news about the mayor?" Sokka and Natalya glared at her. "No, then?" The secretary glanced over her thin computer screen.

"No. I told these wise guys before: you wait until the mayor's appointments are done. Don't like it? Too bad."

"What is he doing now? Surely it isn't so important that it can't be pushed off for fifteen minutes or so." The secretary returned her glare to the computer screen.

"Currently, he is having his mustache trimmed, plus a pedicure. Should be done in half an hour."

"Like hell!" Sokka and Natalya looked furious, while Alistair and Katara were dumbstruck. "Are you telling me that we have been waiting for two hours, due to a pedicure? What sort of sadistic man is this? Come on Toph!" Both he and Natalya got out of their seats and stalked over to the mayor's office entrance was.

"What are you doing?" The secretary demanded while the guards put their hands on their guns.

"Making an appointment." Natalya sneered and pushed past the guards and went through the door, with Sokka right behind him. The guards stared at each other, not completely sure of how they were supposed to react to that; it wasn't like they could open fire upon some teenagers in the mayor's office, right? Seeing the opportunity, Al and Katara quickly followed suit. The secretary stared after them, about to object, but decided that she didn't get paid enough to care. She merely shrugged at the confused guards and went back to playing Solitaire.

Mayor Tong groaned in pleasure; after a rough day, he was certainly tired. However, the sensations that he was feeling now more than made up for all the work. "A little to the left, dear." He murmured to the woman above him.

"Yes, sir." Came her chipper tone. She shifted her focus and another groan escaped the mayor's lips. Everything was perfect…but it couldn't last. He heard his office door slam open, with a cry of "Where the hell is Mayor Tong?" Sighing, the mayor gestured to the beautiful woman that it was time that she stopped; the mayor then opened his eyes and glanced at the bothersome youths that approached him.

The tall, tan one looked sort of scruffy, with an open dress shirt with a black T-shirt underneath, plus a pair of camouflage pants. Next to him was a girl that was perhaps up to the tall one's stomach, maybe a little more, wore a green long sleeve shirt and a pair of black jeans, complete with combat boots. She wore her hair in a bun and had a rather odd tiara thing, with puff balls on each end. Behind them, Tong could make out a young man wearing dark clothing and a tan girl wearing a variety of blues.

Overall, their presence utterly clashed with the office. The office was square, with a wall of Plexiglas windows behind Mayor Tong's wooden desk, while the rest of the walls were covered in several small book selves, as well as portraits of previous mayors. The Mayor was presently sitting in his huge, leather office chair, while the woman, who had been bent over, working, standing right next to the desk. The atmosphere, which had been pleasant and library-like a mere few seconds ago, had shifted into a tense silence.

Silence reigned in the room for a few minutes, with the newcomers gaping at Tong, who glared at them in response. Suddenly, the tan male shifted into a sharp salute. "Hail, President Skroob!" The others glanced at him in confusion.

"You know this guy, Sokka?" The darkly clothed one asked. The boy-Sokka- gaped at him.

"You don't know who President Skroob is?" The others shook their heads. "You guys need to get in touch with the classics!" Sokka scowled. "I mean, c'mon! We have mustached political figure getting jiggy with some blond bimbo! It's obvious!"

"I beg your pardon!" Mayor Tong gaped. "That was not what was happening at all! This lovely young woman here was merely giving me a pedicure!" The woman in question glared at Sokka, offended that he suggest such a thing.

"Yeah, whatever." Sokka began, but the tan girl performed a quick jab to his kidney, shutting him up.

"Sokka! Just because your mind never left the gutter doesn't mean you have to go and say something like that!" She berated while Sokka doubled over in pain. "We are so sorry, Mr. Tong!" She elbowed Sokka again. "Aren't we?"

"Yea…yeah…. I'm so…sorry…too…" Sokka managed to choke out. The blond haired, well endowed woman merely glared at him. Mayor Tong merely twirled the ends of his curly mustache in an irritated fashion.

"Nancy, could you please get our guests some water?" He asked; Nancy merely nodded stiffly, and stalked out; however, she made sure that she tramped on Sokka's foot with her high heel as she passed. After she had left and the doors were closed, the mayor turned toward the party. "So, you must be the Courier and friends…." The party remained silent. "Oh, come now; I'm not one of G.U.N.'s men! I'm one of the good guys!" he tried to smile, but it didn't turn out as convincing as he had hoped it would. "To be honest, I am a rather large fan of yours, Mr. Courier." 

"Why?" Katara demanded, suspicious.

"Well, for the common reasons, probably. I mean, the sole survivor of the British Isles, plus the fact that you can pilot the best mech ever created: the AVATAR." The mayor paused, and then leaned his elbows on the desk, supporting his head. "Let me be frank with you, Mr. Courier. You are the hope of the people. Tales of your exploits in Asia, plus that episode in Moscow, have spread throughout the U.S.A.C; the people believe that you are the only one capable of defeating G.U.N. They fear that, without you, the U.S.A.C doesn't stand a chance…and I fear, deep down, that they may be correct.

"The war is not going as well as we had planned; G.U.N's advancements in mech technology and the lack of ethics concerning the DMI's have given them an edge that, while not unbeatable, sways the balance in their favor. If not for the shield protecting the capitol, the U.S.A.C may not have stood as strong as it has." The mayor glanced up at the group. "We need that symbol of hope, Courier. The people need to believe that we have a chance. So, with your permission, I am hoping that you will allow us to have a celebration in your honor."

"What?" The four shouted simultaneously.

"Announce our presence to G.U.N? Are you insane?" Katara shouted.

"You were arrested on a public street, and rumors are already traveling faster then we can keep track," The Mayor calmly pointed out. "I would say that your 'cover' has been blown quite thoroughly already, wouldn't you? Why not try and do some good while you can?" 

This news surprised the group. "Well, yeah, but the only reason we got noticed was because you arrested us!" Natalya accused.

"No; what part of rumor did you misunderstand? Multiple people overheard you talking and have already begun telling their friends, and those friends will tell others; My God, if it isn't on the Internet already, it will be within the hour. We can't possibly contain all of that, not at our current level at any rate. So, you are left with two choices: you can either run right now, or you can help the morale of the U.S.A.C, then run. Either way, you get away, but whether or not you help us is completely up to you."

Silence filled the room and then Alistair mumbled, "Okay. I'll do it."

"Excellent!" The Mayor seemed truly happy with the news. "I will begin making the calls immediately; by this time tomorrow, you will have your very own float and a throw away mech should you desire one. With a mech, at the very least, you can maybe show off a little of your skills…and that goes for all of you." He gestured to the rest of the group. "Should you desire, you could get similar treatment; I am sure that the people would be thrilled to see more of their heroes."

The rest of the friends looked at each other and thought. Alistair said nothing and stood silently by as he let his friends make their own decision. Finally, Katara spoke up, "I guess I will just go along with it, if anything, just to keep an eye on Al…Sokka?"

Sokka shook his head, "No, I won't do it. I wouldn't really provide as good of 'show', since I can't pilot a mech. Besides, something seems off about this." The two turned towards Natalya, who shrugged.

"I'm with Snoozles on this one; besides, I'm not exactly model material."

"I respect your decisions," Mayor Tong stated, then he turned to address Alistair and Katara. "Courier and…girl…., you don't have to worry about anything; I will take care of the setup. All you have to do is think of a routine for your meches, and maybe come up with a speech." Al visually paled.

"A speech?" He said. The Mayor nodded, as if it were obvious. 

"Of course! You have to address the many people who are relying on you. You have to stir their hopes! Make them feel confident about not only themselves, but you as well!" Before Alistair could retort, a swift knock was heard on the door. Not waiting for an okay, Nancy walked into the office, a tray of waters in her hands. She passed them out to the group and then walked to the Mayor's side. "Anyway, I'll take care of the rest. In the mean time, you can enjoy one Boston's wonderful inns; we have plenty of entertainment centers. Relax! Enjoy yourselves! And if you have any questions, then just call this number…" he jotted a phone number on a scrap of paper and handed it to the still struck Alistair. "…and you should get in contact with someone who can help." With that, the group could tell that the conversation had ended.

"By the way, Mr. Courier…." Alistair looked at the Mayor.

"Yes?"

"How does AVATAR Day sound to you?" 

Greg shivered in the cold temperature of the warehouse. It had been a day since he had followed Glin out of the bar, and it had gone by fast. From the quick transportation and last minute adjustments, Glin did it all with quick effiency; he even managed to get this freezing warehouse for them, but when pressed for why a warehouse versus a nice hotel room, he didn't make any comment. Not only that, but he decided to abandon poor Greg in this huge, cold room, and go do God knows what. Greg merely cursed the G.U.N agent under his breath.

Wandering around the giant room, Greg noted the four huge, steel boxes that were sealed and positioned in the middle of the room. Sighing, he walked over to a work bench that was positioned in the corner, and just sat, praying the fluorescent lights didn't give out on him. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what Glin was up to. Suddenly, the thick steel door on the other side of the warehouse opened and said person walked in. "Hello, Mr. Gregory! How are we this fine morning?" Greg muttered a curse in Glin's direction. Glin merely rolled his eyes, "I come baring gifts of hot coffee and doughnuts."

"You know, I knew there was a reason I liked you," Greg remarked as he made his way over to the agent. Glin merely laughed and handed the middle aged man a steaming cup, and a crinkly paper bag.

"No, no; I am merely rewarding your patience while I was out." Greg merely grunted. "Anyway, there's someone I want you to meet." Greg looked up suspiciously, a piece of a doughnut dangling out of his mouth. "Don't worry, Gregory; it is only one of my spies. They have vital information for us about the Courier." Glin gestured to the boxes and a cloaked figure came out from behind the center crate. Greg jumped back, surprised; however, due to this same surprise, he began to choke on the doughnut. The warehouse was silent for a few seconds, save for the Greg's hacking. Glin shot the spy a wary glance and began to pound on Greg's back. Eventually, the fit subsided and Greg gestured that the meeting could continue.

"Yes. Well then, how about you begin to tell us about what the Courier is up to, hmm?" Glin asked.

"The Courier is still here in Boston," The spy began, their voice low. "You won't have to go looking for him; in fact, he'll be unveiling himself soon enough. There is going to a parade in his honor, in an effort to motivate the nation."

"No, that wouldn't do." Glin tsked. "We can't go and have the Courier give a good impression. We have got to get him before the parade begins…but we can't have him run, or try to actively hunt him down; it would only make us more obvious…" He paused, in thought. Slowly, the spy spoke up.

"Actually, sir, I have an idea in mind for that…." The spy held out a piece of what looked like tissue paper. Glin's eyes widened and he grabbed it.

"Thank you, I believe that I understand what you are getting at." He paused, and slowly began to smirk. "Yes, that will work perfectly. Not only will we tarnish the Courier's reputation, but we can trap him as well….After that, it is merely a matter of unleashing the hounds."

Greg, feeling annoyed that he had been left out of the conversation so far, asked, "What hounds? What plan?"

Glin only smiled and said, "That is where you, my friend, come in." he walked over to the center crate and pressed his hand palm up against the surface. Slowly, one of the sides of the crate began to open, similar to an elevator door. Greg gasped and backed up a step; he never would have guessed that the crates contained something like that! "Do you understand now?" Glin asked. Greg only nodded dumbly. "Good. Wait for my signal, then you do what you have to."

"You," he turned towards the spy. "Will be in charge of dealing with the Courier's friends; we really wouldn't want them doing anything stupid." The spy nodded and departed.

With a plan in place, Glin began to sip his beverage.

In the fancy hotel suite, Alistair found himself sweating; he had never faced a foe of this caliber, something so capable of getting under his skin. Despite the nice carpet and intricately decorated king sized bed, dresser, table, and window, the Black Core pilot couldn't relax. He gulped and, with great reluctance, began his attack. "How's it going?" Katara asked, sticking her head into his room; Al jumped in his seat and dropped his pen.

"Oh, hey Katara; didn't see you there. Um, it's coming along just fine, now. Yeah, definitely smooth sailing." Al assured her; she merely rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right. I'll bet that you haven't written a single word yet." She noted the flushed look on his face. "Something wrong?"

"No, well, kind of, well, not really…" He stuttered.

"Obviously." The Australian remarked sarcastically as she entered into his room. Al merely sighed, and said.

"It…it's just that, well, I've never had to work on something of this magnitude before. Fighting off an army of G.U.N mechs? No problem. Deal with aliens? I can sort of handle that. Evade an empire that rules that majority of the world? Done it. But, despite all my experience, I've never…had to bring hope to somebody. I mostly did that stuff to survive, you know?" 

Katara nodded, having been involved with the majority of these achievements. "Yeah…"

"But, intentionally inspiring people is something completely different! Under pressure, I can usually say the right thing, but now that I actually have to plan it out, I…can't seem to find the right words." After this admittance, the British man appeared to let out a held breath.

"Ah, I see…" Katara nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I know how you feel there. I mean, you feel something, but just can't put it into the right words, for the right person." She glanced over at Alistair, who gulped.

"Um, yeah…" Al blushed. _Is she saying what I think…?_ "Katara, I…" 

"AL! KATARA!" Sokka yelled, barging into the tiny room, followed by Natalya. Alistair and Katara jumped and moved apart from each other. Sokka caught this and closed his mouth. "What were you doing?" he calmly demanded while glaring at them. Rolling her unseeing eyes, Natalya punched in the arm with a gloved hand.

"Get on with it, Snoolzes."

"Fine," Sokka scowled. "Anyway Al, that idiot mayor guy mentioned you on the news…"

"Yeah? So? Wasn't that the plan?" Alistair shot back, frustrated that the over protective older brother had such impeccably bad timing.

"Well, not exactly. He announced that a celebration would be held tomorrow in the town square at 2:00; he said that it was 'to celebrate the return of a war hero'. Sounds like he knows what he's doing…even if he's a slime."

Alistair and Katara waited for a few seconds, then asked, "Okay, anything else?" Sokka's face fell.

"Okay, sorry for interrupting your 'alone time' for you; just thought that you would like to know." He glared at them, grabbed his camouflage jacket filled with weapons, and walked out the door. "Come on Toph, let's go somewhere so we don't interrupt the 'big stars'." Natalya looked confused as Sokka yanked her along with him.

"Sokka!" Katara called, only to wince as the door slammed shut. "Dammit! Why does he always have to be such a diva?" she fumed, only to fall back onto Alistair's bed, with a tired look on her face. "I'm worried about him."

"Sokka?" the Courier asked, glancing over at his friend.

"Yeah; I'm worried that he is beginning to feel somewhat…insignificant." Al gave her a questioning glance. "Never mind; I'm sure that he is merely being a prick." Katara amended, brushing off the topic; Al thought otherwise, but was wise enough to guess that the Australian didn't want to deal with it right now. So, he simply shrugged and went back to his speech. After a few minutes of silence, a loud knock came from the front door. "That must be the idiot, slinking back. I'll let him in." Katara got up and walked over to the door. "You idiot! You have no excuse to stalk off like some sort of prima Dona and-!" She stopped midsentence.

"Excuse me, miss. Is there a Mr. Alistair here?" Asked an armed police officer.

"What the heck are you guys doing!" Katara yelled as the police guided them down to the patrol car waiting out front.

"Miss, we are merely taking you two downtown for some questioning." The tall, mustached officer explained.

"Then why are we in handcuffs?" she demanded.

"Standard procedure." The police man's partner merely rolled his eyes.

"Christ Mack, that sounds like bullshit even to me and I actually know the procedure." He turned towards the two shackled youths. "Truth is Al, you're wanted for suspected theft and possibly murder as well." 

"Murder? What the hell are you talking about?" Alistair demanded from the back seat of the police car.

"Two guards were found dead at the Boston Revolutionary War Museum, with a bunch of artifacts missing…and your fingerprints were all over the place." Katara and Alistair looked at each other in shock; how was that even possible?

"How can that be? You wouldn't have anywhere to confirm my fingerprints, much less prove they were mine!" Mack shrugged.

"I'm simply following orders, kid; personally, I believe you, but we just want to hear your side of the story and see if we can work this matter out. However, we're going to have to keep you two incarcerated for a few days while we investigate." He glanced at them via the rearview mirror. "Do you have anyone else whom can prove your innocence?" The teenagers knew it was a loaded question; the police were actually trying to track down Sokka and Natalya as well.

"No, don't think so."

"Really?" Mack and his partner shared a glance. "Whatever, kid." Al and Katara then looked pleadingly at each other. A few days locked in a cell? How were they going to get away, much less deal with their wayward friends and AVATAR Day?

"Couldn't you just use the AVATAR to break us out?" Katara hissed quietly.

"…Yeah, I could, but…" The Courier looked troubled.

"What?"

"Well, it's just that I would have no problem doing that to G.U.N.; but this is the U.S.A.C; they're the good guys, right? So, if I break out, how am I supposed to make an alliance with them? After all, they have a right to look into a suspicious matter, regardless of whom it concerns, right?"

"That's great Al, and you'd be right…except for the fact that this concerns _us_!"

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to break the law; we'll just have to rely on the Mayor. I hope that Sokka and Natalya can take care of themselves until then." Katara had a look of horror on her face.

"Those two? Unleashed on a city by themselves?" She hit her head against the grate separating the front and back seats. "This city's going to be lucky to be standing tomorrow." Even Alistair paled a little at the thought.

Those two could think for themselves responsibly…right? For some reason, the image of Boston in flames could not leave Katara and Alistair's minds….

"Come on, she's totally 16!" Sokka argued, gesturing to Natalya.

"I'm sorry sir, but the drinking age here is 21." The bored clerk replied for what felt like the fifth time.

"Are you saying that we can't drink here?" The Australian thundered, causing most of the surrounding pedestrians to give them dark looks. "That our money's no good here? Fine! I guess we'll just take our business elsewhere. Good day, you prejudice pigs!" Sokka spun on his heel and stalked off, while dragging an annoyed looking Natalya behind him.

"…you know, if this was Mother Russia, we could have been up to our necks with alcohol." Natalya remarked to fuming Sokka, who merely shot her a glare. "Why are you so eager to get drunk anyways?"

"Cause I'm pissed off, okay?" He snapped.

"…and why would that be?" Natalya calmly asked.

"It's obvious! I mean…" he trailed off as a justifiable reason deserted him. Sighing, he continued, "I guess it's….I don't know. Why do I have to explain myself to a kid anyway?" He jerked in pain as Natalya kicked him in the shin. "Ow! Dammit Toph..!"

"I'm not a kid; you sir, are merely afraid of your feelings." Sokka paused, right in the middle of the sidewalk, causing people to simply go around the two. He looked at the Russian, but it was hard to clearly make out her face in the dark.

"What do you mean?" She looked at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well," she amended. "It's less your feelings that you're concerned about and more of your sister's…" Sokka flushed.

"No way, that's not it at all!" 

"Whatever." She replied and began to walk ahead. 

"The nerve of her, to suggest something like that…!" Sokka fumed under his breath. Suddenly, a hand rested on his shoulder.

"Dude, that's no way to talk to your little sister." Said a long haired, goateed twenty something year old hippy.

"She's not my sister!" Sokka snapped at the well meaning future casualty. The hippy merely backed up a pace from the fuming teenager, a look of comprehension on his face.

"Whoa, dude, didn't know that you were into _kids_! Still shouldn't treat your girlfriend like that." It was at that time, something snapped inside Sokka. Up ahead, Natalya both blushed and smirked at the hippy's scream. She said nothing as a more relaxed looking Sokka jogged up to her. Neither spoke for a few seconds.

"So," She began, breaking the silence. "…'your girlfriend'…?"

"Shut up." Was Sokka's only comment on the matter. They walked together in silence for a while, dodging rushing pedestrians, joggers, and slow walkers alike. It appeared that most of the shops were beginning to close; Sokka glanced down at his watch and was surprised to find that it was close to 9 o'clock. "I suppose we should go back to the hotel; Al and Katara are probably worried sick…"

"And whose fault was that, again?" Natalya innocently asked. Sokka merely grunted and began to turn left, to cross the busy street. The headlights were blinding as the cars blurred by, the sound of honking horns and cursing people in the distance. Everything seemed normal, when Natalya suddenly tensed. "Get down!" she shouted and threw herself at Sokka, who stumbled to his left.

"What the hell are you doing…?" Sokka began, but then felt the rush of bullet just missing the side of his head. "We're being shot at!"

"No shit!" Natalya shouted back as she pulled the teenager back onto the sidewalk.

"Come on!" Sokka gripped her wrist and began to pull her after him as he sprinted down the sidewalk and around the street corner. "I'll get us out of here, but you'll have to let me know where the bullets are coming from!" 

Natalya nodded and tugged him towards the right, just barely dodging a bullet which implanted itself in the pavement. "Shouldn't you return fire?"

"Not with all these people around! Besides, I can barely see a damn thing beyond the street lights, much less outshoot a sniper on one of the rooftops! No, right now we have to get inside somewhere…there!" He noted a museum up ahead and began to dash towards it. With Natalya's guidance, they managed to get there relatively unscathed, except for the occasional bruise. He pulled at the glass doors, only to notice they were push. "Dammit!" he pushed on a door, and slipped through, pulling Natalya after him; the sound of glass shattering resounded as the sniper tried to get one last shot in. Fortunately, they missed and the alarm blared. Sokka and Natalya found themselves staring at a huge hall, with stair cases in all four corners of the room, heading up into the depths of the museum. At the end of the polished wood walled hall were several hallways, two of which led to a gift shop and what appeared to be the restrooms. The only noise for a few seconds came from the ceiling fans and the alarm as the two teens faced a staring group of tourists and a tour guide. The tour guide quickly ducked behind his podium, and some of the few tourists quickly began to panic, running away from the doors. Sokka quickly pulled the tour guide up.

"Is there a back exit?" he demanded to the nervous guide.

"Y-yes…" He stuttered.

"You know where it is?" The tour guide nodded. "Good. Then take charge and get these people out of here, now!" He let go of the tour guide, who fell on his butt. Sokka then turned towards Natalya. "Toph, go with them."

Natalya looked shocked and enraged at once. "I don't need you worrying about me; I can take care of myself!"

"That may be, but if someone's after us, then that means that someone is probably going after Al and Katara; you need to get to the Avat and the Bandit and get the mechs over to Katara and Al as soon as possible." He turned towards the door and drew his pistol. "I'll deal with the sniper."

The Russian looked tempted to argue his logic, but knew that he was right. "Fine."

"You know where the Avat is?" Sokka called to her as she walked away.

"Yeah; I'm good." She gave him the thumbs up, back facing him, and continued on her way. Sokka nodded, then ran to the front desk; he had some layout to memorize.

Greg grimaced as he stared at the computer screen. He rubbed his temples; it was certainly tiring, to look at a computer screen for hours. Still, it was through this monitor that he could control the "reinforcements", sending them to whatever location he wanted; the huge map grid of the city was helpful for this. As Glin had said, it was just like a real time strategy game…whatever that was; Greg hadn't played a video game in decades, it just didn't seem like something a person of his middle age to do.

"Checking in…spy or whatever the hell your name is. How are things going on your end?" Greg called over his head set.

"Shut up fool! I'm at a crucial moment; I don't need you distracting me!" Hissed the spy. This was quickly followed by a "Dammit! How did they see that bullet? Damn, they're aware that they're being followed." 

"Do you want some of the reinforcements sent your way?" Greg asked, his hands going to the keyboard. Silence resounded in the warehouse where Greg's base was currently set up, stuffed into one of the corners. The four huge steel boxes were open, but one of them was empty; he had already sent the first sixteen of the "reinforcements" after the Courier and his main squeeze; however, Greg was not planning on using much more than that. In fact, Glin had been somewhat against bringing so many with him when he went to deal with the Courier, but eventually decided to bring eight units with him, four for the Courier and the other four to deal with whatever her name was; after all, Glin explained, they undoubtedly put them in separate cells. Meanwhile, the other eight were sent out to hunt down the Courier's ride. Still, he had made it known that if Greg sent many more out, the subtly of their mission would be lost and that would not please the higher ups. However, as Greg knew, missions change and nothing ever goes according to plan; so he kept one finger on the launch button for when Glin inevitably changed his mind.

"Negative, I can deal with them for now." Came the spy's response. However, this was shortly followed by a "Dammit! They managed to get into a museum; how the hell are they seeing my shots anyway? They just barely dodge them!"

"Bear in mind, according to Glin, they do have a girl with them that sees through echo location; maybe the vibrations of the bullets give them away?" Greg suggested to the frustrated agent.

"Whatever; I'm seeing people leaving out the back way…. I think that they may be splitting up. Send some reinforcements after whichever one is leaving; I'll take care of whichever stayed behind." 

"That's helpful; could you be a little more specific? There are a shitload of museums in Boston, you know. Which one? And which target is the one leaving?" There was some silence as the spy studied the crowd.

"Okay," came the response a few minutes later. "The Aboriginal Museum on Merchant Street; it appears that the girl is the one escaping…she's probably heading back to whatever ride they have, probably to get mechs." 

"Can't have that," Greg noted as he entered the data into the computer. "Okay, got a lock on her. Sending reinforcements…now." He clicked "enter" and suddenly eight more DNIDAMs stirred and began to head out into the city, on top of the eight that were already hunting the Courier's ride. That girl was in probability doomed. Greg sighed; this didn't feel right to him, but still…that's orders for you.

Mack sipped at his Diet Zoke as he tried to relax. It had been a rather stressful day, with the morning starting off with paperwork, the chief of police constantly threatening to fire him, and he and Seth had to arrest some minors; for what, they were not sure. They were just ordered to put the boy in the "dead cell", where all electronic signals were canceled out and nullified. The girl, they just put in a regular cell…although, at this point, Mack wished he and Seth had been allowed to throw her into solitary; she just didn't shut up. If he focused hard enough, he could still hear her nagging tone, even all the way in the police break room. He glanced over at his partner, who sat across from him, playing Solitaire, with a conflicted expression on his face.

"Something wrong?" Mack asked the African American. Seth looked up at Mack.

"Does something about this feel…_odd_ to you?" Seth asked, a slight tone of suspicion in his voice. Mack nodded in agreement; he understood what Seth was asking.

"Yeah, a little…I mean, what is the likelihood of kids like that killed those guards? It just doesn't seem to fit. Plus, taking them without evidence…" he shrugged. "I dunno."

"Exactly; I mean, those fingerprints found at the scene are important and all, but when we ran them, we found didn't find a damn thing. When the mayor's exclusive lab ran them, suddenly there's a match? Seems a little convenient to me."

"Yeah, Seth, I agree. But that doesn't mean that the kid isn't guilty of _something_; for all we know, he's an international criminal or something." Seth narrowed his eyes and scoffed.

"Yeah, right. The kid doesn't look like he would willingly hurt a fly, much less kill two men twice his size." Mack looked troubled and glanced around the room, hoping no one would walk in. Then he leaned in closer to Seth.

"Okay, but how do you explain the hotel room? Where would a kid and his girlfriend get the money to stay in one of the most expensive hotels in the city?" Seth leaned in a little closer as well, to keep from being overheard.

"Okay, remember the brief time I got with the clerk before we arrested the kid? According to her, he arrived with three other people, in a limo, escorted by the one of the mayor's personal aides; how does that scream international criminal? If anything, it would suggest that he is some kind of celebrity that the mayor is trying to keep under wraps, wouldn't it?" Mack numbly nodded, understanding in his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" He demanded. Seth began to respond, but Mack cut him off. "Whatever; it's not important now. What is is that there's some kind of celebrity in town that the mayor doesn't want unveiled…and yet, he announces a parade tomorrow for a war hero? Coincidence?"

"But a kid that young? No, that can't be it." Seth shook his head dismissively. Mack disagreed.

"I don't know; I think you may be on to something though." Seth got to his feet and began to walk out the door. "Where are you going?"

"To talk to the girl." Seth answered, grabbing a ring of keys off the coat rack. Mack quickly got up to follow him.

"Wait up, I'll…" Suddenly, a huge boom rocked the whole room. It threw the two officers off balance as the lights dimmed. "What the hell was that?" Seth paled as a look of comprehension dawned on him.

"Come on! We have to get those two free before it's too late!" He began to sprint, drawing his gun. "You go to the Exo Suits and meet me at the girl's cell!" Mack nodded and sprinted down another hallway. It seemed today was only going to get more stressful from here on out.

_Dammit!_ Natalya cursed as she ran down the now empty street. Stupid Sokka! She didn't need him worrying about her; if anything, she should be the one worried not him! Things had gone to hell in a hurry and Sokka suddenly taking on the role of suicidal hero was not helping things. Still, he was right that someone had to get the Avat and mechs over to Al and Katara ASAP, but still…. _The idiot better not die or I'll kill him_, she promised herself.

However, finding the Avat was turning out slightly harder than she had expected; fortunately, she had managed to locate the frequency that Avat was giving off and was making headway. The "terrorist shooting" at the museum was serving as a wonderful distraction for most of the city's citizens and keeping them off the roads. Hopefully, Alistair and Katara would get out of the hotel alright…or that whoever was after them hadn't found them yet. Damn, they never should have agreed to that slime Tong's idea; AVATAR Day Natalya's ass, it had only provided another reason for G.U.N. to find them. Pure hatred surged through her body at the very thought of the evil nation, increasing her pace. The bastards had taken almost everything from her; only when she had finally felt like she had a chance, a future with her friends, G.U.N. only came to ruin it again. This time, however, she would fight. This time, she would save them.

With this thought driving her, she pushed forth, sprinting towards the edge of town; quietly, she thanked God that Sokka had led them so far from the inner city hotel. It felt like she was almost there, the Avat was only a mile away.

Suddenly, her 'vision' went wild, overwhelming her senses; she fell to the ground, gripping her head. Something huge must've begun moving at an incredible speed to disrupt her echo location like this. From what she could tell, it came from behind her, from deep within the city. Once she managed to calm enough to focus, she noticed that it was not just one thing; with a sinking heart, she realized that the noise was coming from many somethings…mechs, judging from the scale of the noise...and it appeared they were heading in her direction.

It felt like an earthly tidal wave, the silent screaming of their arrival almost threw her to feet, even if they were not there yet. Shivering, she got to her feet, and began to move forward; she even tried to put an extra boost to her speed. She quickly glanced over to the side and noticed an unmanned vehicle to the side of the road. Changing directions, she raced over to the car and smashed through the driver's side window, and unlocked the door. She hopped in and proceeded to hook herself up to the vehicle, starting the engine up. Once she was certain that the car was under her control, she smashed the pedal to the floor and turned it towards the Avat's direction. Even with the car, it would be a close call if she beat the mechs to the Avat. She didn't even have to look over shoulder to see the distant outlines of the oncoming enemy. The Russian paled as more and more mechs joined up; _sixteen _of them?

"Shit…" she murmured. Silently, she begged the car to speed up. Only a little ways more…

Katara silently fumed. She was sitting, legs and arms crossed, on a bed that hadn't been cleaned in a year; she could practically feel the bed bugs running around the mattress. The toilet that used to be white, sat opposite of her, next to a sink and a cracked mirror, which reflected her peeved expression well. She turned her glare at the clear wall of electricity that served as the door trapping her in. The only sounds that filled the otherwise empty cell were the slight hum of the door and the leaking of the facet. Every time a drop of water fell, the Australian felt her eye give a slight twitch.

Now, it wasn't that she was short tempered, but after being stuck in the cell for several hours, despite her proclamations of innocence and knowing the mayor, she was no longer amused by her situation. It seemed odd that, so soon after they had met with that scumbag of a mayor, they were arrested. She scowled; they _never_ should have trusted that guy. Natalya and Sokka had been right for once…. Still, did this mean that everything the mayor had said to them had been a lie? Why would that be? He had seemed pretty genuine about his concern for the soldiers and the U.S.A.C….none of this made any sense. The only real thing to do would be to wait it out and let the authorities actually do their jobs for once…or, much more likely, she would try and break out of the damn place. But how?

She thought for awhile, but after an hour, she was ready to give up. Without Alistair to summon the AVATAR, she was more or less left to her own devices…which were rather limited at this point. She groaned and laid back on her bed. Why did Alistair have to be so nice? They could have been out of here hours ago, but no…Still, however inconvenient, Al's determination not to hurt the innocent was admirable…. Alistair's ways of dealing with problems certainly contrasted with her brother's and even, from what she could tell, Natalya's. Katara paused at that thought, looking up at the ceiling of her cell.

Their little group had certainly changed since Katara and Sokka had first found Alistair half a world ago. Back then, it was her befriending the still cooping Alistair and Sokka's paranoid airs. Now, they had a new addition to their group in Natalya, a blind Russian who seemed to match her brother in sarcasm. And, although he acted like his old self, Katara sensed that something was…off with her brother; that something was bothering him. Still, he had matured some, especially after the incident in Moscow. Once this was over, she would have to get around to dealing with that. Meanwhile, Alistair had changed a lot since she found him; whether it be his personality, appearance, or even his…..

The sound of an explosion cut off her line of thought. As she leaped off her bed, she caught a look of herself in the mirror; she was blushing. Quickly shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she ran to the door of the cell and tried to get a look around, to see what happened. A siren went off in the distance, causing most of the cells' doors to fade. The prisoners slowly began to wander out of their cells, unsure of what was going on. Eventually, they grew confident and began to try and escape, breaking walls, furniture, and each other on the way.

However, they got cut off by the appearance of a police officer; Katara squinted and saw that he had been one of the two that had arrested her and Alistair. He whipped out a crowd control cannon and launched tear gas at the rioting criminals. Most of them fled back to their cells to try and escape, especially when a police officer in an Exo Suit showed up behind him.

This Exo Suit was roughly fourteen feet tall, compared to the black police officer's six foot. It was blue, with guns sticking out of its wrists, and an iron club hung across its back. Sporting a blue chest piece, complete with a glowing star in the middle, the Exo Suit tried to look like it was a part of the force, as it were; it even had the BPDF labeled across its chest. Regardless, the lack of a head was still rather unnerving; plus, the fact that the Suit was covered in more armor than a tank didn't help. A booming voice ordered the prisoner's back to their cells or risk punishment; to emphasize this, the Exo Suit raised its left arm and the hand slid aside, revealing a cannon.

The prisoners quickly fell into line and meandered back to their cells. Once every inmate had made it back to a cell, the black police officer reached over to a control panel on the wall and pulled a switch; suddenly, steel poles descended over every cell doorway. What the hell was happening? Katara was in disbelief, especially once the police officer ran over to her cell and began to fiddle with the lock. "What the hell is going on?" Katara called through the doors.

"A raid on the station; we think that whoever is attacking may be after you." The police officer panted as the door began to open. Katara got out just as the Exo Suit walked over and placed a second one beside the black man.

"Here Seth; managed to get one for you," crackled the pilot's voice through the intercom. Seth nodded his appreciation.

"Thanks Mack; now, go over to the boy's dead cell. But be careful, we have no idea what fire power the enemy has."

"Don't worry; this Suit has enough armor to stop a tank. I think I'll be fine; but make sure you keep diligent. We only have so many Exo Suits, you know." Seth nodded and Mack left, running to the locked door on the other side of the giant room. Katara turned to Seth.

"You may want to go with him; this is probably G.U.N we're dealing with. And, if you thought I would be attacked, then expect double for Alistair." Seth looked shocked but there was some slight suspicion as well.

"Why the hell would G.U.N. bother with kids like you?" he demanded; but before Katara could answer, the floor shook as it began to suddenly crack. Quickly, Katara leapt for the Exo Suit, much to Seth's disapproval. Before he could protest, she said, "Sorry, but I need to borrow this. You may need to get another one." As she spoke, the smoke cleared and four DNIDAMS were there. "Scratch that; you need to get one." However, Seth was already gone, sprinting down the halls towards the Exo Suit storage chamber; he was proud, but he wasn't stupid enough to take a freakin' mech on by himself.

Katara quickly scouring over the controls in the cockpit; it was relatively simplistic, especially compared to her Ranger. There were buttons and analog sticks everywhere, but in her experience, it was nothing to worry about. By the time two of the DNIDAMS began to sprint towards her, she had a pretty good idea of how it worked. She yanked at an analog stick and threw the Exo Suit to the side of the charging DNIDAMS, only to notice that the other two were warming up their lasers and aiming for her.

Quickly, she raised the Exo Suit's arms and let loose the guns mounted there, and began to sprint towards the laser wielding DNIDAMS. The bullets ricocheted off their armor, but seemed to disrupt the lasers enough that they began to dim. Suddenly, the Exo Suit was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground by one of the charging DNIDAMS. The other charging DNIDAM quickly leapt on top of her, causing the cockpit to come alive with alarms as the pressure increased. The other DNIDAMS were now sprinting over to her, as the one keeping her pinned began to try and punch through to the cockpit.

"Damn it!" Katara hissed. She quickly flipped a switch and the Exo Suit's right hand slid over to reveal a cannon. She aimed at the DNIDAM that was punching its way through the suit and fired. A huge blast of energy shot out, and nailed a DNIDAM; it was knocked off her back and almost collided the second one that was applying to keep her pinned. Immediately following the shot, Katara noticed an energy gauge decreasing out of the corner of her eye. So, it had to recharge before she shot it again…perfect. She did not need this now.

By now, the other two were trying to get a laser shot off, aiming for the cockpit. Sweating, Katara glanced over at another switch; quickly, she turned the dial next to it and pushed it. Suddenly, a taser shot out of the Exo Suit's left arm, latching onto the DNIDAM on top of her. Electricity shot through the taser cords and entered the DNIDAM, frying the mech's systems. Without so much as a twitch, the DNIDAM died and Katara shook it off and grabbed it, placing it between her and the lasers. She threw it at them, intercepting the beams. She then got to her feet and began to shoot at the DNIDAMS again.

They meanwhile just knocked the thrown DNIDAM out of the way and one began to recharge his laser while the other charged her. Right before it reached her, she jumped to the side and grabbed its arm while it passed, and used its moment to whirl it around her and back at the on coming laser beam. The DNIDAM exploded upon contact and the other DNIDAM just kept coming…until Katara shot it with the Exo Suit's arm cannon; it had finally recharged enough for her to get a shot off.

Katara just sat in the cockpit, panting for a bit; that had been close. After a minute, another Exo Suit came sprinting through the door, guns at the ready; however, he noticed that all the DNIDAMS were destroyed. Suddenly, a voice came from the intercom.

"You managed to do this on your own?" Seth asked, awe in his voice.

Katara panted, "Yeah; no problem. Now show me where Alistair is; if they sent four DNIDAMS after me, I can only wonder what they sent for him." She could picture the police officer paling.

"Oh my God; Mack!" he began to sprint, with Katara quickly following into step. "Come on, this way; Mack should have gotten there by now, so your friend should be okay for now." Katara only hoped that was the case as she ran after Seth.

Sokka swallowed; all this tension was not good for his blood pressure. It had been well over a half hour since he had told Toph to leave and the hitman hadn't made an appearance yet. This was greatly distressing, as he no longer had the advantage of the blind girl's echo location to know when bullets were coming or if the mysterious assassin had snuck in some other way, other than the emergency exits, as Sokka had reset the alarm to go off should they be opened.

Was there another way in besides the front door? The Australian prayed to God that there wasn't, as he had set himself up to be able to snipe whoever came through the entrance…which was probably what the hit man anticipated. After blocking the hallways downstairs with whatever he could get his hands on, he had stationed himself on one of the four staircases, which had led up to a second floor which consisted of hallways along the sides of the walls, leaving the middle vacant, so Sokka could see down into the entrance hall.

The Australian still wasn't feeling the best about this plan, but he had tried to cover as many doorways as possible; he had even taken out some of the plexiglass windows that protected the gift shop and had surrounded himself with them. It was the best he could do and he managed to find an opening to return fire from. The set up should hold up, at least long enough for Sokka to get an idea of where the attacker was.

However, for this plan to work, the hitman would have to show up. Leaving Sokka in suspense was a no-no, even for a bad ass assassin. Sokka just continued to look out into the entrance hall, constantly checking each corner to see if anything had snuck up there. But Sokka, being Sokka, began to get bored and no matter what he knew he had to do, an hour or so of doing nothing began to take its toll. His vision began to blur as he began to get comfortable, sleepy even. He leaned back onto the wall and closed his eyes, however briefly.

While he rested, he found himself dwelling on how Al or his sister or even Toph would deal with a situation like this. He figured that, if some crazed hitman was after _them_, they would just have to summon their giant mech suits and crush the guy like an ant, just like they always did. Whenever trouble seemed to rear its ugly head, those three would jump into their robot suits and fight it off…with Sokka on the sidelines. He knew that he and Katara and everyone were a team and all…but after so many months and the recent addition of Toph, Sokka found himself wondering what exactly he contributed to this team. He was slowly getting frustrated just watching the others-_his sister_- fighting the danger to protect him…not being able to help…._powerless_….

Suddenly, he was shot awake by a loud cracking noise that resounded throughout the hall. The plexiglass had blocked a bullet, inches from where Sokka's head had been resting; Sokka could only thank God that the dim lights had made the glass rather hard to make out so the assassin didn't really see them well. Sokka's gaze quickly shot over to the direction that it had come from, his weapon drawn. The assassin was already on the move, sprinting along the hallway opposite Sokka's; while he had been out of it, the hitman had managed to get on the second floor.

Sokka tried to return fire, but none of his shots seemed to make it close to where the hitman was; he just kept dodging them. After he had shot an entire clip, the hitman had vanished into one of the other corners, his footsteps echoing down the hall. Sokka cursed and, remembering that the museum map had mentioned that all the hallways were connected, Sokka turned his back to the plexiglass and glowered down the hallway behind him; it was fortunate that he had placed some traps to alert him should anyone come down the hall. Still, Sokka knew he couldn't count of that to stop the hitman.

As it turns out, he was right by that; he realized this as soon as he heard something get thrown inside his plexiglass cage. Sokka quickly glanced down at it and, with a sinking heart, saw it was a grenade. He snatched it and threw it out of his box and began to sprint down the hall, only to have the grenade go off behind him.

The explosion propelled him forward, slamming him through the glass surrounding an exhibit. At the last second, he covered his eyes with his wrists, but that didn't stop the wind from getting knocked out of him as he crashed against the floor. Dizzy, but alive, he slowly got up to his knees; he noted that his wrists were bleeding due to glass shards cutting them up. He ripped up his dress shirt and tied some strips around them to bandage them up. That done, he looked at his surroundings; he had wound up in some kind of boomerang exhibit, with the walls covered in the weird things.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't my best plan ever…," he muttered as he got to his feet and began to move forward, stepping on a fallen boomerang on his way. The hitman was sure to come checking to see if the explosion had taken him out any minute now; Sokka let out a hiss of frustration. How was he supposed to beat a person who not only had explosives but had a far larger attack range than he did? Sokka had to separate the hitman from his gun…but how…. Suddenly, he got an idea; he glanced down to the boomerang he stepped on. "That'll work." He said as he picked up the metallic blue and gray item.

He took a few practice swings, then fell into position. He laid down on the ground, playing dead, near a piece of fallen plexiglass and silently prayed that the hitman would want to personally check to see if he was dead and not just shoot at a 'dead' body.

After a few pulse pounding minutes, the assassin entered the hall. Sokka couldn't believe it; the hitman was actually entering through the far entrance, versus the one he had just blown up. Now for the distraction portion of the plan; Sokka had made sure that he placed his body near the middle of the relatively short but wide hallway, where not even a blind person-or Toph-could miss him. The Australian just had to keep playing dead, which was hard when he could hear every step the hitman took as he approached.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise as the hitman stepped through a trip wire; a bunch of items fell to the floor with a clatter. While the hitman quickly raised his rifle at the falling artifacts, Sokka sprang to his feet, boomerang drawn. He hurled it through the air just as the hitman realized that Sokka had moved. As he turned his rifle toward Sokka, the Australian yanked up the piece of plexiglass in front of him, gritting his teeth when he felt the bullets' thundering impact. Fortunately, the barrage only lasted for a few seconds, when boomerang finally reached its destination. The metallic weapon had soared through the air and, outside of the assassin's immediate field of vision, eventually arced and scored a deep cut along the hitman's right forearm.

The hitman roared at the sudden pain, dropping his rifle in the process, which clattered on the ground and the loaded bullet then shot out into the hitman's left foot. While he was distracted, Sokka had gotten up and began to sprint at the swearing hitman, plexiglass in front of him. Just as the hitman glanced up, Sokka rammed into him with the plexiglass, sending him crashing to the floor, the breath knocked out of him. The Australian then drew his pistol and smacked the hitman across the face to daze him. Now that the hitman was knocked out, Sokka allowed himself to take a good look at him. The assassin had worn a traditional skin tight, black jumpsuit…which revealed that he was in fact a she. Sokka's jaw fell.

"I was almost killed by a girl?" he tentatively reached down and yanked the black ski mask off of the assassin's head and gasped. "You…!" He gaped down in shock at the secretary of Mayor Tong. The woman looked younger now that her makeup was absent, maybe late twenties or so, with blond, healthy hair tumbling past her shoulders. "I should have known; no mere secretary would be sadistic enough to leave me trapped in a waiting room with nothing to read but old issues of _Woman's Monthly_." He shook his head in mock disappointment. "That would have worked much better than that grenade." He looked around the exhibits and grabbed some rope and proceeded to tie her up...only after he had patted her down and taken whatever was in her pockets.

The Australian then dragged the hitwoman down the stairs back into the entrance hall and, after much searching behind the tour guide's desk, found the duck tape. After he had more or less cocooned her in the stuff satisfactorily, he tossed it aside and glared down at her. "I won…," he said in wonder. "I doubt Katara or Al or even Toph could've beaten an assassin without a mech suit!" He grinned, despite the wounds and minor burns that were dully throbbing. However, as he stood there, he remembered the mission he had sent Toph on. "I better meet her at the AVAT…" he murmered worriedly and, without a backwards glance, headed out into the city, taking his new spoils with him; among which was a certain boomerang.

After haphazardly speeding along the roads outside of Boston, Natalya was confident she would never drive again. Not only had her swerving nearly hit many a car, but icky things like speed limits and seat belts felt too restricting, even in a screaming metal death trap; give her a mech suit any day. They had to be safer than this.

Plus, it didn't help that her "sight" wasn't up to par, as it was slightly disoriented, thanks to the oncoming mechs. They appeared to be catching up; Natalya was sure she had a minute or two at the most before they reached her. She had to get into the Avat before then; once there, the Avat could hold up against some damage and buy her time to get the Bandit. Still, for that to happen, she had to beat them to the Avat.

Fortunately, it was close; after driving for a mile, she was within touching distance of the flying AVATAR container. She slammed on the breaks of the car and didn't even bother turning it off before she hopped out of it. From what she could tell, she had made it to the secluded woods that was hardly visited by the ever busy Bostians, or even hillbillies for that matter. She began to sprint and, after some looking, found the Avat's hiding spot underneath the protection of some fallen trees. Quickly, she forced the door open enough for her and shoved herself through. This accomplished, she ran down the halls into the mech and climbed into the Bandit. The floor was shaking; the mechs had finally arrived. Natalya began to smirk and launched the Bandit out of the Avat, ready to rumble. Sixteen to one? Those odds didn't seem so bad now.

"Bring it, you bastards!" She yelled as she charged the incoming DNIDAMS.

The trip to the dead cells felt like one of the longest of her life. Katara's worry mounted the longer she and Seth ran down the beat up halls of the police station; it seemed that a fight had broken out in those halls, with fallen officers strung every which way. She could tell that really angered Seth. The Australian found herself matching the police officer's rage; she didn't even know these people, but they had tried to stop whatever it was from getting Al and that was good enough in her book.

Finally, they could begin to hear the sounds of conflict, with the sounds of guns firing. Mack must have met up with the enemy. The two Exo Suits took a right turn and found themselves entering the Dead Cell Block. The room was small, compared to the giant chamber of the where she was held, but still big enough to house a four semi trucks on top of one another and next to one another. With multiple floors of cells, Katara couldn't even begin guessing which one Al was in…or, at least, she wouldn't have, had it not been the one with a sleek black Exo Suit standing before it, firing lasers at what had to be Mack, while the police officer was trying to shoot at the four DNIDAMS that had surrounded him. Mack was looking worse for the ware, as was the steel door blocking Alistair's cell.

"Mack!" Seth shouted and began to charge at the DNIDAMS, guns raging. He leapt on top of a DNIDAM and drew the iron club, which began to spark as the electric current that ran through it kicked on. "I'll help him here, girl! You go deal with the freak in the Exo Suit!" Katara nodded and, while dodging DNIDAM shots, began to climb up to the third level, where Al's cell was.

The man in the Exo Suit noticed her immediately and then began aiming his laser at her, leaving the two brave police men to his DNIDAMS. Despite the interference, Katara managed to get onto the second level and ran until she was just underneath the area by Al's cell and where the Exo Suit thief was located. She turned a few dials and yanked on the analog sticks, forcing her Exo Suit to do an explosive leap through the platform above her and…empty air. The enemy had quickly moved the minute he lost sight of her and was currently shooting at her; bullets rang off her suit as she located the enemy, who was now on the other side of the room. Scowling, Katara returned fire, shooting with her left arm while she ran along the platforms toward the enemy, all the while, loading her arm cannon.

The enemy quickly picked up on her motion and leapt again, just as she activated the arm cannon, dodging the blast. He landed against the wall and pushed himself off and hurled himself at her, while he drew his laser sword. Katara saw this and immediately grabbed the iron club that was across the Exo Suit's back; the minute she drew it, electricity flowed through it, which made it begin to spark. She quickly dropped low to the ground, with the enemy going right over her, but that didn't stop him from taking a swing while he passed. The Australian parried it and quickly went on the offensive as she swung her club at the back of the enemy's Exo Suit, nailing it. The electricity burnt the metal on the man's suit.

The enemy noticed the damage immediately and turned on Katara, his laser sword already in mid swing. Katara stopped it with her club; sparks flew as the two weapons collided and grinded against one another. The other Exo Suit was strong as it kept the weapons locked in between the two combatants. Katara swore as she tried to overpower the enemy, but got nowhere. Suddenly, a voice came over her intercom.

"You're quite good; of course, I should have expected that one who had out witted G.U.N. for so many months would be." 

"Who are you?" Katara demanded. "What do you want with Alistair?"

"What else would someone like me want with the Courier? Him in chains or dead…but it would be a shame to resort that, wouldn't it?" The enemy casually answered. "I'm not so stupid as to give you my name; however, if you must know, you could call me 'Gentleman' or something to that end. I really do not care." Katara paled and began to tried to push even harder against "Gentleman".

"You won't get away with this! I just have to keep you here until one of our friends-"Gentleman merely tsked, annoyed.

"'the power of friendship', etcetera, etcetera; must you people always go on about that? I myself find not having friends can be rather useful. Besides, I already am fully aware of your two other companions. I rather doubt that your brother or even that third generation DNIDAM will be able to come to your rescue; they are probably dead or dying even as we speak."

"What?"

"You see, while the Courier is to be preferably alive, the same does not go for the rest of his party. A shame really, as I found you to be an interesting bunch. Alas, my personal opinion does not matter as much as it should back home." Gentleman continued. Katara said nothing, as she watched her cannon's energy meter finish refilling. Quickly, while Gentleman's guard was somewhat lowered, she jumped back, dropping her club and raised her already opening cannon. She fired at Gentleman from close to point blank range; however, he raised his laser sword and managed deflect it some, at the cost of his weapon. The cannon's blast obliterated the sword, and damaged Gentleman's Exo Suit's hand. Gentleman quickly began to move, laser firing at Katara's ever weakening Exo Suit. Still, that didn't prevent her from charging Gentleman and tackling him to the ground. She raised her gun and pressed it right up against his cockpit and let it loose a few rounds. While the cockpit was being damaged, she fired up the taser as well and sicked it on the fallen Gentleman. After her attacks, Gentleman found himself barely able to move, much less attack.

"Hmmm…" he murmured to himself. "This didn't go quite how I envisioned." He noted that the taser and the bullets had damaged his communicator, so he was unable to contact Gregory and order back up. "Overconfidence kills, I guess. I will have to make note of this for later…" He quickly pushed a few buttons and the emergency afterburners he had custom made for his Exo Suit kicked in, sending him flying from underneath Katara and slamming through the concrete wall. Outside, Gentleman made note of the cars that were driving under him, as well as the pedestrians that were pointing up at his falling form. However, he also noticed where he was landing. With some alarm, he quickly entered the emergency escape hatch to release and was ejected from the Suit, as it fell into the Boston Power Company's generator. The resulting black out swiftly occurred throughout most of Boston's down town and the docks. "Oh, damn it all." Gentleman muttered as he drifted to the ground.

Things were not going very well on Greg's end. Not only were the number of DNIDAM's that he had sent with Glin swiftly diminished, but he couldn't even get a raise out of the spy. After the spy had entered the Aboriginal museum, he had disconnected his communicator so Greg wouldn't 'distract' him. After two hours though, Greg had to assume that the spy had been beaten. Plus, he couldn't contact Glin for some strange reason, so he couldn't send out more DNIDAMS to replace those that had fallen.

"I should have guessed that things would go to hell…" Greg mused, somewhat bitterly. "I warned Glin not to get cocky, but did he listen? Noooo…that idiot better not have gotten himself killed." He glanced over at the monitor which showed the progress of the sixteen DNIDAMS that he had sent after the girl and the Courier's ride. Greg's jaw fell as he looked at the screen, its contents barely registering. "Two left? Out of the whole damn sixteen?" He thundered in disbelief. There was no way that anyone short of the Courier could have pulled that off. Plus, the remaining two were…heading this way? What the hell was going on here?

Just as Greg thought that, one of the two last DNIDAMS blinked off the radar. "Oh shit." Greg murmured. He quickly turned to his keyboard. "I have to send reinforcements to take out the Courier's ride…" he was just about push the enter key when suddenly the power shut off. Greg blinked at the sudden darkness. After a few seconds of pure silence, he cursed. "God dammit! This can't be happening!" A loud crashing noise occurred as something fell through the roof of the warehouse, revealing the stary night sky.

"And then there was one…" Came a young voice, as the Bandit followed the object through the new opening. It landed on top of the last DNIDAM, crushing it. The mech then turned its attention on Greg, who had drawn the gun he had kept on his person. "I don't think that that'll do you much good, old man."

Greg ignored this and demanded, "How could you defeat the DNIDAMS?" His voice never wavered, despite his situation, Natalya noted, mildly impressed. In response to his question, she shrugged.

"They were last year's model." She replied, bitterly. Greg nodded, understanding. Glin had told him about her and the experiments; it was truly appalling what people did in the name of "science".

"I'm sorry." He murmured, well aware that the girl wouldn't care for his sympathy. He was right.

"I don't need your pity. If anything, you should be more worried about yourself." Greg almost laughed at her. He sat back down in his chair and threw his gun aside.

"Kill me, if it makes you feel better. I rather doubt that it will matter; I don't have anyone who would miss me if I went. The U.S.C.A sees me as a failure and traitor anyway, and, without the Courier or something to prove my worth, G.U.N. won't accept me either."

"You aren't already with G.U.N.?" Natalya asked, despite herself. Greg shook his head.

"No, not yet. However, they are my last chance to make my life mean something. For the first time in twenty years, someone expects something from me. They took me into their group and gave me a chance to prove myself. I failed obviously, but I won't regret my decision." He looked up at the cockpit, and the blind girl inside. "It felt nice to belong again, if only for a little while." Natalya said nothing. Greg then closed his eyes, and lay back in his chair. If he was going to die, he was going to be comfortable, dammit! He didn't watch the girl leave, but he did feel the warmth of the explosion that surrounded him.

Alistair quickly hopped off of his cot as the door to his cell was forced open. He saw that it was a person wearing a blue police Exo Suit. _Do they really take me that seriously?_, Alistair wondered. However, when he peeked past the Suit, he saw the area outside of his cell had been destroyed. "What happened?" he demanded. Admitting, there was some slight noise he had heard while he was inside the cell, but surely he would have heard _this_!

"Nothing big, Alistair." Katara answered, opening the cockpit. "It only turns out that G.U.N. tried to kill us after they planted the evidence to get us locked up here in the first place." She hopped out and ran over to him. She hugged him, while his face turned red. "I'm so glad you're okay." 

"Um, yeah…me to?" He stammered; of all times for his voice to fail him….

"Hey Girl? He okay?" A black officer called into the cell. Alistair immediately recognized him.

"Hey, you're one of the guys who arrested us!"

"Yes and I'm sorry about that." Seth apologized. "But I think fighting off a G.U.N. infiltration makes up for it; agreed?"

_I'm really going to have to get the full story from Katara_, Alistair thought. "Uh, sure, why not. Forgive and forget."

"Come Al, let's head back to the Avat; I'm worried that G.U.N. may have gone after Sokka and Natalya as well." That gave him a sense of urgency and, with Seth's guidance, they managed to get out of the police station without much difficulty. Once outside, Mack hopped into a squad car.

"Come on; we'll give you a ride back to your hotel." Al and Katara looked at the back seat of the car wearily. Mack laughed. "Don't worry; we won't need the cuffs this time. Now get in, you big babies." Slowly, the two got in the back seat of the squad car, while Seth rode shotgun. Despite the traffic and craters in the road, once Mack switched on the car's siren, the trip picked up pace. On the way to the hotel, everyone in the car marveled at the bodies of crushed DNIDAMS.

"What the heck happened while I was away?" Al wondered; he was not used to missing out on the action, no matter if he wanted to or not. Katara merely shrugged.

"Natalya, maybe?" Al nodded, agreeing.

"Yeah, this seems like her style…." Eventually, the car pulled up in front of the hotel which looked relatively untouched by the destruction…except, Alistair and Katara wearily noted, the Avat was parked on its roof. At this point, they were just taking this in stride. Seth and Mack refused to comment. Instead, they just coughed.

"Well, I guess this is it." Mack said, "Sorry about arresting you." Al just shrugged.

"It's not a big deal anymore." Mack nodded. Meanwhile, Seth turned to Katara.

"Thanks for the help girl; without you, I doubt Mack and I could have stopped G.U.N. from leveling the whole place." Katara merely nodded. Seth turned to Alistair. "She's a keeper, my friend." 

"What?" Alistair and Katara blushed while Mack laughed. He and Seth returned to the car and started it up.

"Take care, lovebirds!" Mack called as they drove off. Al and Katara just watched them go for a few minutes.

"What interesting people…" Alistair began. Katara nodded in agreement.

"Yeah…. Now, how about we go find out why the Avat is parked on top of the damn hotel?" Alistair shared her sentiments and together, they returned to the hotel room that they had had stayed in only a few short hours ago. With shaking hearts, they slowly opened the door, only to have it whipped open.

"Katara! Al! You're back!" a poorly bandaged Sokka exclaimed. "Hey Toph, they're back!"

"Really?" Natalya meandered over to the door. "I wondered where they went off to." Sokka glared at her.

"Oh come on, quit faking! You were just as worried as I was and you know it!" Katara was staring at her brother with concern.

"Why are you injured? Did G.U.N. come after you?" Sokka turned his gaze to her, pride in his voice.

"Yeah; I beat an assassin! It was awesome! He had me cornered in this museum, and I tried shooting him. But then he threw a grenade and everything went 'boooom' and then I played dead and used this awesome boomerang to whack him when he wasn't looking and he turned out to be a she, that evil secretary from the Mayor's office…; hey, where'd my boomerang go?" He quickly realized it was missing. He glared at Natalya, who was dangling it from her gloved hands. "Give it back!" 

"Not until you tell me why you call me 'Toph'." She stated; Alistair and Katara privately shared that question. Sokka paused and looked slightly embarrassed.

"Um…well, you know, 'Toph' sounds kinda like 'tough' and you're like, hard core Russian tough, so…." He grimaced as he looked at his friends less than amused faces. "Get it?" Natalya nodded slowly; she figured he was lying. She herself had read once that nicknames are a common way of getting closer to people; the Russian would know, as she herself had given the other three nicknames. Still, she didn't feel the need to point that out.

"Yeah, I get it; it's not funny, but I get it." She then turned and left the room with the boomerang. 

"Hey, Toph! Give that back!" Sokka charged after her.

"No; I'm returning it. You stole it, didn't you?"

"It's a war trophy! You don't see me complaining that you parked the Avat on the hotel's roof so we could meet up with Al and Katara!" Katara just closed the hotel room door, blocking out the rest of the argument. She turned to the overwhelmed Alistair.

"Why does everything go to hell the minute I leave?" He asked. Katara just shrugged.

"I dunno. Personally, I think we should pack. As soon as those two come back, we're leaving. It seems that Boston was too…." She trailed off.

"Boring? Dull? Uneventful?" Alistair supplied, grinning. Katara nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Greg woke with a start. He was in a hospital bed, wrapped in bandages…; this didn't seem right. Hadn't that girl blown him up?

"No, I am afraid that you are mistaken." Glin remarked. "The girl did, in fact, blow up the rest of our DNIDAMS; not you." Greg leaned back, then hissed in pain. "That does not mean that you went unscathed, though." Greg said nothing for a few minutes. "Mr. Gregory?"

"I failed." Greg finally stated. "I failed, so why did you save me?" Glin merely sipped his tea.

"Failed? I should hardly think so."

"But the Courier! He's still around, and we didn't get any of his companions, so how the hell did we not fail?" Greg demanded. Glin smiled.

"My dear Mr. Gregory, you have to learn to turn defeat into victory. News of the Mayor's secret 'terrorist' he was harboring has spread; conspiracy theorists are spreading news of the U.S.A.C's dabbling in DNI technology and believe that this was all a poorly covered up training exercise. We have created distrust among the people and the government of the U.S.A.C; so, while we did not kill the Courier or co, we have definitely done some damage. Be proud; this will only make our next conflict with the Courier all the more interesting."

"So you're keeping me?" Greg was incredulous. Glin nodded, his gaze softening.

"I should think so, Mr. Gregory. Having an ally with as much experience and loyalty as you will be invaluable; it would be a waste to leave you behind now." Greg said nothing for a few minutes. Finally, he spoke up.

"Greg." Glin looked confused.

"What?" Greg smirked up at the German officer.

"It's 'Greg' to my friends; 'Mr. Gregory' makes me feel old." Glin was actually struck silent by the statement. Eventually, he took slipped off his tiny glasses and began to wipe them with a rag.

"But, my dear Greg, you are old."

…**and that's all folks! Sort of. Anyway, if you're interested, here are the links to Dearing's fanfictions: **

**Avatar: The Last of Black Core (book one: Water): .net/s/3882292/1/AVATAR_Last_of_the_Black_Core**

**Avatar: The Hunt for the Courier (book two: Earth): **

.net/s/4761012/1/AVATAR_Hunt_for_the_Courier

**Feel free to check them out! Thanks so much for reading! Remember, read and review!**


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